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FilmL.A. Supports Filming Close to Home

Each year, hundreds of Los Angeles area filmmakers avail themselves of low-cost access to a variety of publicly owned film locations. Thanks to the generosity of the City of Los Angeles, use fees are waived for filming at most city-owned properties, making access to these facilities very affordable.

A lesser-known perk of filming in Los Angeles is that FilmL.A.’s Hollywood headquarters is also available “use fee free” for occasional, low-impact evening and weekend filming.

Providing low-cost access to its modern, versatile office is one of the ways FilmL.A. supports the Los Angeles film community. Over the past year, FilmL.A. has played a technology start-up, a music label headquarters, an IRS office, and the scene of a boisterous flash mob.

Filmmakers who shoot in FilmL.A.’s office at the Sunset Media Center are required to obtain a valid film permit and pay both a refundable security deposit and the cost of a FilmL.A. site rep. Parking in the adjoining garage and after hours HVAC are billed at cost.

“There are limits to what we can accommodate, of course, but we try to be as welcoming as possible,” says Production Planning Coordinator Tim Overbeck, who oversees in-office filming. “Minimal prep and strike are required, Sunset Media Center and FilmL.A. must approve all activity, and all the usual Fire Department rules for filming in a high-rise office building apply.”